Football can be a strange old game at times and so it proved tonight, we led one nil at half time having been pounded for forty five minutes by Dortmund, then in the second half when we looked solid at one nil up, Dortmund got lucky, the substitute Perisic wildly swung his left peg at a dropping ball from outside the box, he connected perfectly and the ball flew into the top corner leaving the outstanding Szczesny with no chance at all. Perhaps one each was a fair result though, a win would have been somewhat flattering.
The interesting team news before the game saw Benayoun starting for the injured Ramsey, alongside the returning Song and the new boy Arteta, the rest of the side was as expected. I have to say Dortmund were superb in the first half, they pressed us ferociously, forcing us into error after error, we could not hold onto the ball and they attacked, attacked and attacked. A mixture of good defending, poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept them out.
We did look dangerous on the counter and so it proved, RVP slid in to win the ball back, Theo then slipped him in, RVP struck a fizzing right footed drive past the goalkeeper, 1-0 it was at the break. We had struggled in midfeld, Song tried but didn't have enough help, Benayoun looked rather lost in his role, while our front three looked too isolated from one another.
The second half was far far better. We defended solidly, passed the ball around better, and we could have made the game safe, Gervinho was so close to getting a second. I was impressed by our defense in general; Koscielny, Sagna and Szczesny were the pick of the bunch though. It was still just a tad frustrating that we never really kept the ball as well as we should have, certain players were taking too many touches, but sometimes this was because they were so isolated, a lot of credit must also go to Dortmund for their excellent work rate and pressing.
Overall a great point, but three would have been terrific, it always annoying to lose out so late in a game when you have your hopes up for all three. A special word must go to the ref who displayed excellent judgement and common sense throughout, something one rarely sees in the Premier League. No doubt the negative English media will concentrate on the negatives, but going away to the German champions and coming away with a hard fought draw is no mean achievement.
7 comments:
nice post.......
defended solidly? Dortmund got lucky???
Which match were you watching mate??
Don't think their fella "swung wildly" at the ball. He watched it all the way down and hit a peach.
walcott shudve been taken off sooner. He was total shit
Benny was the weakest link in our midfield 3 tonight and it cost us in the end as he was sloppy in possession in the middle for the umpteenth time in the build up to their goal (admittedly a great finish). Gervinho had a poor night too. Lost count of the times he attempted dribbles in the second half and lost the ball when we desperately needed to keep possession. Had our more attack minded 5 been as good with the ball as our defensive 5 and song we'd be flying home with 3superb points but not to be. ah well...a point gained at our toughest away trip. Happy with that... :)
Gritty performance, Gervinho cost us a couple of goals tonight, someone has to teach him how to look up. Gibbs had a poor night, Benayoun's passing poor but his work ethic is admirable. People complaining about Walcott should look again at that assist and if not for Gervinho's blindness he could have scored at least 1 when a couple of his sprints got waisted. Sagna excellent (afraid City or Madrid will take him from us together with Scezney), Mertesacker's tackling in 2 games has been perfect. It's unfair to expect fluid circulation of the ball from a team with a center line that has been together less than a week. If we manage to hold it together and recover Jack and TV this could be a good season after all.
There are 2 types of Arsenal fans: Those that think last night was a good result, and those who act as though we got slaughtered, 5-1.
The former understand that getting a draw at the home of the defending German champions, in one of our 2 toughest games in the group (a trip to Athens is never a picnic), is a good thing, suggesting we'll get through the group with 10 to 12 of a possible 18 points. The latter are the Wenger Out Brigade and need to get a life, if not a new club to support.
As usual, 1979, your analysis is far ahead of the latter group in terms of understanding, both short-term and long-term.
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